Questions answered about the Alex Band abduction story

This image released by The Calling shows bandaged lead singer Alex Band of the group The Calling in Los Angeles on Monday, Aug. 19, 2013. Band was abducted, beaten and robbed after performing at a Michigan festival, the band said Monday. was attacked outside a store in Lapeer early Sunday, the group told The Associated Press. The Calling had performed Saturday night at a festival in the city of 8,800, about 45 miles north of Detroit. In its statement, The Calling said Band was visiting a mini-market after the show when "Alex was grabbed by his shirt and hit from behind." (AP Photo/Chuck Kim)

LAPEER, MI -- After we reported that Alex Band, lead singer of The Calling, reported to police that he had been abducted, beaten, and robbed after playing a show for the Lapeer Days festival, readers had some questions.

Some questions were just looking for other information, though most came from people who were skeptical about Band's versions of events.

Below are some of those questions we're able to answer right now.

What the heck happened, anyway?

According to Band, he left his hotel room at the Best Western in Lapeer at about 3 a.m. to go to a nearby gas station for cigarettes. According to what he's told various media sources, including MLive-The Flint Journal, as well as the police, he was grabbed from behind by a trio of men who forced him into a van and beat him, took his money, and dumped him on some railroad tracks on a country road, about three miles out of town.

Was it a hoax?

This seems to be the most common question. Some readers have gone so far as to suggest that Band, as shown above, was merely squinting and not really hurt. However, police have confirmed that Alex Band was admitted to the hospital and released.

However, there are other people who question why Band was out during the wee hours, not buying the story that he was only out for cigarettes. As for that, there is no evidence at the moment to suggest that anything else was going on.

Band said he anticipated the skepticism that the incident was a hoax, and went on CNN for the express purpose of trying to nip such speculations in the bud -- an effort that didn't seem to work. What would happen to the attackers, if caught?

Right now, it's not really possible to say. A representative from the Lapeer County prosecutor's office said Aug. 20 that they have yet to be asked for any warrants. Until the police complete their investigation, it's impossible to say.

What is Band's attitude toward the attackers?

Based on the interview, he seems to have mixed thoughts. He said that an attacker had a gun to his head and was threatening to kill him and that it was when he mentioned that his girlfriend was pregnant that they decided to stop. He said he thought, "There maybe was a good bone in their bodies, and there was."

He also said during the interview that he hopes they're caught and arrested. He said during the attack he offered them his watch -- worth, he said, $80,000. According to him, they didn't take it.

"They’re idiots because I had an $80,000 watch on," he said, later adding, "Let’s just say these weren’t the brightest kids."

How is Band doing now?

Band was in a wheelchair for one day following the incident, he said, but added that he was healing well. When he spoke with MLive-The Flint Journal he said he was in his studio finishing work on an album. During the interview he apologized in case he sounded strange, due to stitches inside his mouth.

Would he come back to Lapeer?

Yes. Band said the incident is the kind of thing that could happen anywhere and said he didn't think it reflected on the people of Lapeer.